Greenpeace loses court fight over illegal timber

Greenpeace reacted with dismay yesterday after losing a legal battle which, it says, leaves the way open for Amazonian rainforest timber cut down illegally to be imported into the UK.

The environmental group had asked the Court of Appeal to rule that the Government had the power to stop specific shipments of mahogany from Brazil under international law. It argued that, even though export permits had been obtained for the timber, the British government knew the Brazilian environmental authorities were opposed to its shipment and should act.

But, in a 2-1 majority decision, Lord Justice Mummery and Lord Justice Dyson decided that the need for "commercial certainty" for traders meant the UK authorities were entitled to accept the export permits as valid and not interfere.

In a dissenting judgment, Lord Justice Laws said he would have ruled that, as the UK knew that the Brazilian management authority was "not satisfied" that shipments were being traded "in accordance with the Convention" (on International Trade in Endangered Species), the permits should be rejected.